WASHINGTON – Former President Donald Trump plans to announce At the Libertarian National Convention On Saturday, he intends to commute the life sentence of Ross Ulbricht, the operator of the Silk Road website.
Ulbricht was sentenced to life in federal prison in 2015 for creating and running a secret website known as Silk Road that people used to buy and sell drugs and other illegal goods and services.
Many libertarians have called for Ulbricht’s release. At the convention on Saturday, the crowd was filled with “free Ross” signs and chants of support for Ulbricht.
However, Trump’s previous comments about drug traffickers are at odds with Saturday’s scheduled announcement about Ulbricht.
Former president said that death penalty depending on the seriousness of the crime, a criminal case should be opened against certain drug dealers.
Then-U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara linked at least six deaths to Ulbricht’s actions. Bharara too he called Ulbricht “drug dealer and criminal.”
“During its existence, the Silk Road was used by thousands of drug dealers and other illegal sellers to distribute hundreds of kilograms of illegal drugs and other illegal goods and services to more than 100,000 buyers and launder hundreds of millions of dollars in illegal proceeds. operations,” said a 2015 Immigration and Customs Enforcement press release announcing Ulbricht’s sentencing.
On Friday night, the libertarian crowd was hostile to the mention of Trump, and the audience booed when Vivek Ramaswamy brought up the former president. Separately, the crowd cheered as a member of the Libertarian Party chanted, “We’re going, tell Donald Trump to go.”
“What he’s really trying to do is show that he can be president for all Americans,” a Trump campaign official said before the former president’s remarks. “If you want to compete for non-traditional Republican votes, you have to go where they are. You can’t just wait for them to show up.”
The Libertarian National Convention is held at the Washington Hilton in DC.